Intermittent Saorview reception - Shankill, Co Dublin Area

gok

I have got a new TV - Sony 46JX823 which I plugged into my aerial setup which has 2 UHF aerials combined, one pointed East at Wales with a masthead Amp and one pointed West(for local TV)
RTE Saorview reception goes quite bad occasionally (such as now and on Sunday last) and RTE becomes quite unwatchable. At the moment am trying to watch RTE news on CH42 Freq 721.979MHZ and the signal strength is 99 whereas the signal quality is 8 (Same story with RTE2 HD at CH52 / Freq 721.979Mhz)
where as no issues with BBC HD which is coming in with a Strength of 97 out of 100 and quality of 82 at Frequency 729.979 CH C53

Question - why is RTE reception so crap tonight (and other recent nights)?
On Sunday, I ended up watching the football on ITV Wales HD as RTE kept pixelating :mad: - anything I can do to fix this?
Quite annoying....especially as I can nearly see the RTE mast and 3-rock from where I live,,,

coddlehip

Is it something to do with the weather? We seem to have lost all irish channels at the moment but can suddenly pick up some UK ones (with a small indoor aerial in the living room)

Peter Rhea

Your aerial pointed at Three Rock is more than likely contributing nothing to your digital reception. Are the aerials combined using a diplexer (frequency selective combiner)?

UHF channel 52 is used for Saorview from the Greystones transmitter.

dublinman1990

Are you getting Saorview reception through a Saorview approved TV or not?

It would be hard to see a Saorview reception only going through an aerial including the HD UK channels.

vicwatson

Question - why is RTE reception so crap tonight (and other recent nights)?

Was it raining by any chance?

I lose Saorview when it rains :D I know it's really funny (also quite ridiculous), I was told by Saorview that perhaps I have a leak in my roof and water is getting in hence the problem only when it rains:rolleyes:

Unbelievable

Peter Rhea

gok wrote: »

. . . where as no issues with BBC HD which is coming in with a Strength of 97 out of 100 and quality of 82 at Frequency 729.979 CH C53

That would be the Llanddona transmitter. Three Rock Saorview is in the same frequency group & this 'Welsh' aerial would also attract co-channel interference from the Winter Hill transmitter.

RTE & TV3 analogue from Three Rock are in a lower frequency group & can be easily combined with these Welsh signals.

Gerry Wicklow

gok wrote: »

I have got a new TV - Sony 46JX823 which I plugged into my aerial setup which has 2 UHF aerials combined, one pointed East at Wales with a masthead Amp and one pointed West(for local TV)
RTE Saorview reception goes quite bad occasionally (such as now and on Sunday last) and RTE becomes quite unwatchable. At the moment am trying to watch RTE news on CH42 Freq 721.979MHZ and the signal strength is 99 whereas the signal quality is 8 (Same story with RTE2 HD at CH52 / Freq 721.979Mhz)
where as no issues with BBC HD which is coming in with a Strength of 97 out of 100 and quality of 82 at Frequency 729.979 CH C53

Question - why is RTE reception so crap tonight (and other recent nights)?
On Sunday, I ended up watching the football on ITV Wales HD as RTE kept pixelating :mad: - anything I can do to fix this?
Quite annoying....especially as I can nearly see the RTE mast and 3-rock from where I live,,,

Three Rock is on CH54 (738Mhz). If you are trying to watch the small repeater from Greystones on CH52, it's no wonder it's breaking up. Try doing a manual scan on CH54

gok

Peter Rhea wrote: »

That would be the Llanddona transmitter. Three Rock Saorview is in the same frequency group & this 'Welsh' aerial would also attract co-channel interference from the Winter Hill transmitter.

That may explain why BBC HD & ITV HD is a bit intermittent whereas all the welsh SD BBC channels are always good. Is there anything that could be done to get more reliability of the HD signal? (ask RTE to change frequency )

Peter Rhea wrote: »

RTE & TV3 analogue from Three Rock are in a lower frequency group & can be easily combined with these Welsh signals.

- Can anything be done to avoid this combining effect?
Would it be better if my local aerial was repositioned to three-rock instead of Greystones (not sure why its pointing at Greystones as I can 'see' Three Rock)
The aerial mast has 2 boxes, an amp and a combiner - no idea on the details of the signal combiner.
TV is a great TV - fully Saorview compliant..

Peter Rhea

Nobody said your aerial is pointed at Greystones, you're more than likely picking up this signal on the Welsh aerial.

What about the Irish analogue channels, is TG4 noticeably worse than the other 3?

gok

Peter Rhea wrote: »

Nobody said your aerial is pointed at Greystones, you're more than likely picking up this signal on the Welsh aerial.

What about the Irish analogue channels, is TG4 noticeably worse than the other 3?

Yep, TG4 was always poorer on analogue but is fine now on digital - what made you pose that question? Also my Welsh Aerial is Vertical, local aerial is Horizontal

Peter Rhea

If your Welsh aerial is vertically polarised, it's most likely intended to receive from the Arfon transmitter ('Freeview Lite' service on UHF channels 41, 44 & 47).

If the aerial for Three Rock is indeed connected to the group A (lower frequency) leg of a diplexer, it won't be passing any Saorview signal on channel 54.

You could get a diplexer with a different frequency split to suit Three Rock Saorview & Arfon combined.

Ronnie Raygun

gok wrote: »

... my Welsh Aerial is Vertical

What kind of aerial is it? Presume it's not a grid type?

How long ago was it installed?

zg3409

If you are in Shankhill the signal from three rock should absolutely pound into your location. Greysones will be very weak as it is blocked by Bray head.

As already said Three Rock is on CH54 (738Mhz) You should do a manual scan. You should not attempt to watch it on any other channel or frequency.

mcwhirter

gok wrote: »

I have got a new TV - Sony 46JX823 which I plugged into my aerial setup which has 2 UHF aerials combined, one pointed East at Wales with a masthead Amp and one pointed West(for local TV)
RTE Saorview reception goes quite bad occasionally (such as now and on Sunday last) and RTE becomes quite unwatchable. At the moment am trying to watch RTE news on CH42 Freq 721.979MHZ and the signal strength is 99 whereas the signal quality is 8 (Same story with RTE2 HD at CH52 / Freq 721.979Mhz)
where as no issues with BBC HD which is coming in with a Strength of 97 out of 100 and quality of 82 at Frequency 729.979 CH C53

Question - why is RTE reception so crap tonight (and other recent nights)?
On Sunday, I ended up watching the football on ITV Wales HD as RTE kept pixelating :mad: - anything I can do to fix this?
Quite annoying....especially as I can nearly see the RTE mast and 3-rock from where I live,,,

I have had a similar problem with clermont carn. Signal strength in high 90's and quality less than 14. I haven't changed a thing and it was fine last week and since the original saorview tests. I have contacted rtenl by phone and email but no reply yet. Analogue signal is fine.

I may have to go onto roof and check aerial but its a biggish job and I'd rather see if any work is being done at transmitter or frequencies have changed.

gok

Have done a rescan lots of times - the only difference is that sometimes I get freeview and sometimes freeview lite (Iguess depending on whether I have high pressure). RTE is always on the same frequency,
The Welsh aerial is an arrow shaped one, though not the monster that some people around Dun laoighre have. The RTE aerial is a much smaller affair nearly 180 from the welsh. Both aerials quite old but had someone around 5 years ago to look and they said they were fine though I've heard, it may be worthwhile to move the welsh aerial towards a more powerful transmitter which I'd consider if I knew I'd get some of the other freeview channels more reliably such as Film 4, 5, ITV3 & ITV4 etc Anyone else in the North Wicklow area on freeview with all the channels?

Ronnie Raygun

mcwhirter wrote: »

... I'd rather see if any work is being done at transmitter or frequencies have changed.

I can assure you the frequency hasn't changed. How many different threads have you posted this on now?

gok wrote: »

Both aerials quite old but had someone around 5 years ago to look and they said they were fine though I've heard, it may be worthwhile to move the welsh aerial towards a more powerful transmitter ...

As already mentioned above, if the Three Rock aerial is connected to the group A leg of a diplexer, the Saorview signal will be filtered out. In some cases this very strong signal would be picked up on the other aerial, but it might happen to just be at the wrong angle for this to happen.

The Arfon transmitter, while not the most powerful & not carrying a full service, is on a very high site & I think is the only fairly reliable Welsh source of Freeview along with Preseli for south Wicklow & Wexford.

Ronnie Raygun

gok wrote: »

Have done a rescan lots of times - the only difference is that sometimes I get freeview and sometimes freeview lite (Iguess depending on whether I have high pressure). RTE is always on the same frequency

Can you do a manual scan of UHF channel 54 though, or do you have duplicate Saorview services further down the list?

cjt156

zg3409 wrote: »

If you are in Shankill the signal from three rock should absolutely pound into your location. Greysones will be very weak as it is blocked by Bray head.

Agreed; I'm in Shankill and Saorview is 'strong like bull!' Practically all of Shankill has direct line of sight to Three Rock which is only a few miles away.

OP you're picking up Three Rock (poorly) on your West-pointing antenna - you need a diplexer to combine signals.

mcwhirter

mcwhirter wrote: »

I have had a similar problem with clermont carn. Signal strength in high 90's and quality less than 14. I haven't changed a thing and it was fine last week and since the original saorview tests. I have contacted rtenl by phone and email but no reply yet. Analogue signal is fine.

I may have to go onto roof and check aerial but its a biggish job and I'd rather see if any work is being done at transmitter or frequencies have changed.

OK. fixed. It was a bad connection on the aerial input to the tv. Signal quality now 100%. Still no digital teletext though.

Ronnie Raygun

mcwhirter wrote: »

OK. fixed. It was a bad connection on the aerial input to the tv. Signal quality now 100%.

Maybe you'll think twice in future before you post more nonsense about transmitter malfunctions or frequency changes.

dublinman1990

mcwhirter wrote: »

OK. fixed. It was a bad connection on the aerial input to the tv. Signal quality now 100%. Still no digital teletext though.

Well, if you have 2 UHF aerials fitted into it, there is a chance that your TV may not work properly without a VHF aerial. A VHF aerial is simply a rooftop aerial that allows to get both full 100% broadcast and signal strength at the same time.

Your broadcast strength should be around 50% or 60% if a rooftop aerial is not fitted to your Saorview TV.

In some cases, you see digital teletext by pressing either the red or text button.

Peter Rhea

dublinman1990, what the hell are you talking about?

dublinman1990

gok said that he had no digital teletext from RTE Aertel Digital.

And why is that I ask.

gok did not say that his aerials (masthead amp etc) are either indoor or outdoor. Also how he get UK HD channels on his Saorview TV.

I understand that Saorview should broadcast Irish channels only. His UK channels therefore should be broadcast in SD using a simulcast going into HD.

SalteeDog

..looks like silly season has started early this year.

Cesium Clock

SalteeDog wrote: »

..looks like silly season has started early this year.

Wait till oct 24,

Every idiot will have a bar stool opinion, fuelled by a lack of information,

Cesium Clock

dublinman1990 wrote: »

Well, if you have 2 UHF aerials fitted into it, there is a chance that your TV may not work properly without a VHF aerial. A VHF aerial is simply a rooftop aerial that allows to get both full 100% broadcast and signal strength at the same time.

Your broadcast strength should be around 50% or 60% if a rooftop aerial is not fitted to your Saorview TV.

In some cases, you see digital teletext by pressing either the red or text button.

WTF la la

t c

I am in Shankill also with a Saorview aerial and have had no problems since installing it over a year ago. Not sure about Freeview reception, but would like to know.
I do have Freesat though which is great.

My aerial is pointing towards 3 Rock and feed 3 tv's through an amp splitter with no loss.

Peter Rhea

Seems like it's just a case of the OP's tv finding the Greystones transmission 1st (understandable given it's on a lower channel).

His aerial system is unlikely to be optimised for Saorview reception & would be especially prone to interference from the likes of the Winter Hill site near Bolton.

mcwhirter

Ronnie Raygun wrote: »

Maybe you'll think twice in future before you post more nonsense about transmitter malfunctions or frequency changes.

Thanks, for that, really helpful. At least I am being honest that it was just the aerial connection.

Your sensitivity about the transmitter though concerns me. Too much radiation maybe

zg3409

t c wrote: »

Not sure about Freeview reception, but would like to know.
I do have Freesat though which is great.

If you have freesat the only benefit to getting freeview is a couple of channels like Dave, but even then some masts from Wales do not even broadcast all the Freeview channels so you may not even get all of them.

There are far more UK channels on freeSAT. Freeview is normally only recommended if you have an aerial already installed and you can get a good UK signal. Shankhill is not that high above sea level so I suspect freeview would be unreliable during high pressure over the Irish sea.

http://www.freeview.co.uk/Channels

peelaaa

Peter Rhea wrote: »

dublinman1990, what the hell are you talking about?

No. what are you talking about?

Ronnie Raygun

mcwhirter wrote: »

Thanks, for that, really helpful.

There's nothing helpful in logging in with another username to snipe at people either.

Peter Rhea

Peter Rhea wrote: »

If the aerial for Three Rock is indeed connected to the group A (lower frequency) leg of a diplexer, it won't be passing any Saorview signal on channel 54.

Suppose it's worth updating this with a mention of the frequency change on July 10.

Three Rock Saorview will switch to UHF channel 30 which is in group A.